Stay with me here...I'm a bit cranky today. Why? Because I never receive what I ask for when I 'Opt-In' to receive some information, especially in regards to a massage marketing tip. (Hey, it's a passion of mine to attract new clients!)

Let's face it...

The biggest obstacle we have to overcome when we publish a mailing list or newsletter or put any free or paid information out there is the fact that people have gotten used to getting junk (from our competitors) disguised as helpful free or paid information.

Many writers put out poor information simply because they're writing from a mentality of, 'I gotta get something,' and when you do that, you completely forget about the people you're writing to and start to concentrate on you and what you want.

That's a disaster waiting to happen and the first massage marketing tip I'd like to share with you.

Whenever you write anything for your subscribers, don't write with the sole intention of scheduling them in your appointment book just yet.

Appointments are how we make our money...

...but your business lives or dies based on how many people believe you genuinely want to help them achieve their desired results.

Without an effort from you to show your readers that you value them enough to part with real information and that you see them as more than just a dollar sign, you're going to be lumped in a group with all the rest of your competitors with a big sign on your forehead marked, 'Will Do Anything To Make A Buck.'

Responsive readers are born from conscious efforts to build a solid relationship with them. People connect with other people, not mindless robots that only want that next opportunity to slip in their sales pitch.

I'm sure you'd love for everyone to schedule a massage, but don't force this on your prospective clients.

When you do enough of the right things in your prospects eyes, you will have earned the right for them to contact you.

The critical point to be made is that you have to earn their trust by giving up good information that is of actual use to your prospective clients. You have to earn their trust as a professional, not be viewed as a 'peddler.' (Re-read that paragraph again. It's yet another critical part of the massage marketing tips I'm sharing with you.)

Here are some massage marketing tips to assist you with your Mailing List, Ezine, Newsletter or Blog.

Here's a list of massage marketing tips that are critical to the success of your mailing list, blog, etc., etc.

Make Your Intentions Clear Right From The Start!

When people sign up for your mailing list or newsletter, the first contact from you should be a personalized message telling them WHAT they can expect as a subscriber and WHY they need to stay subscribed.

This initial first message sets the stage for everything you do later. You need to warm up to them and show that you care. This demonstrates that you are looking out for THEIR wants and needs as opposed to the content being all about you. Put your own agenda on hold because...

...this isn't about you, it's about your subscribers!

Perception is reality, and if your subscribers get blasted from the start with your agenda, they won't stay around long. How people see you and react to you is very important.

You need to place yourself in their minds as someone providing useful information in regards to what it is they asked for.

People have nothing to base their opinions of you on other than the person/image you purposely or accidentally present for them to judge.

As soon as you do the same things most of your competitors do, you get labeled as one of them even if you're not.

That's why it's so important to make your intentions crystal clear right from the start. Do something that your competition hasn't thought of doing because they're only thinking of themselves...but not you!

Believe it or not, people pick up on your intentions. If they can't for one reason or another, they will guess. Guessing is never a good thing, especially on the Internet, because...

...if you force prospects to guess about your Intent it's seldom going to be positive.

People have been conditioned not to expect much from free information, so clearly state your intent. It's a must! If you don't, most everyone will assume you are just another advertiser and you'll lose credibility.

Just about everyone who joins your list will at least read the first message you send to them and make up their mind about you based on that first email. (This is another grand-daddy of all massage marketing tips.)

Knowing this, doesn't it now seem obvious that your first email is the most important and that you should do everything in your power to make sure people have the right "picture" of you and your intentions in their heads ...so they don't draw their own conclusions about you?

Let's proceed to the next huge issue in regards to massage marketing tips for your mailing list and blog...

Evaluate Your Current Image!

Are your subscribers doing what you are asking them to do? Are they clicking through on the pages you've asked? Are they providing feedback on your material that you asked for? If not, take a hard look at the material you are presenting and...

...see if it has any value FROM YOUR PRESPECTIVE CLIENTS POINT OF VIEW, as well as taking a look at how you are presenting to them.

All people really care about are their goals and anyone who seems to want to help them reach those goals. People will evaluate you based on how much they think you can help or hurt them on the way to what they want. That's why it's so vitally important that you give the best information you can create.

Take A Good Look At Your Surroundings!

Does your information and the way you present it look like every other massage therapist's around town?

Find out what the majority in your area is doing and do just the opposite. This is the quickest and most effective way to get noticed.

Find Out What Your Readers Want and Give it to Them!

(Another grand-daddy of massage marketing tips.)

Your main purpose is to serve your readers, period.

People are loyal to other people who are loyal to them. You, the presenter, have to go out on the limb, FIRST, before you can expect your readers to trust you. You can't expect your readers to do something for you when you aren't willing to do something for them first.

YOU have to be the one willing to initiate the relationship.

Your main purpose is to serve your readers. Not to get them to schedule with you. They will schedule, but only when they feel like you've done a good enough job of catering to their needs first.

Only by taking an active interest in the needs of your readers will they in turn take an active interest in your needs. Sounds simple but it's easy to get blinded by the dollar sign and forget that actual people are subscribed to your list. Not mindless robots with money.

When you can figure out what the needs of your readers are and strive to fill those needs, you won't have any problems making as much money as you want with your list.

Make Your Subscribers Feel Like They Can Talk To You...

...And That You Actually Care About What They Have To Say!

(Grand-daddy #3 of massage marketing tips.)

First, of course, to listen and care about what other have to say, you need to get them communicating with you. The quick and easy method to do this is to ask your subscribers simple questions.

Most everyone's favorite topic is themselves...

...show interest!

Ask interactive questions that gets the ball rolling, so to speak. The more you can get your readers to communicate with you, the more they will feel like they know and can trust you.

You are building relationships here, remember? If you get nothing else out of these massage marketing tips, remember this!

You are the provider of helpful information and someone who wants to help your reader succeed at something. You must get that across.

Your reader is someone who will learn to trust your advice and listen to your recommendations because...

...you have built up a history of performance that benefits them more than it benefits you.

Remember, perception (or what people believe) is the only truth that really matters as far as they're concerned.

The Internet can be a cold and distant place.

That's actually to your advantage, because if you can consistently get across to your readers that you are a real person with real concerns (just like them) and you know what it's like for them to be in the situation they're in because you've been there, you won't have any trouble getting people to warm up to you.

People in general tend to like others who look out for them because people (again, in general) think about themselves first.

If it seems like you are looking out for them first then you will automatically take a high position in your prospects eyes.

There's no point in building a list if your readers don't think you care about them. You should. Otherwise you don't deserve to have them as subscribers.

When you give to your list, you always get back much more in return.

That's the law of reciprocation at work. Most of us were taught to give back what we get from people. That being the case, be careful about what you give because what you give is what you can expect to get back. That's a scary thought huh? :-)

Ok, let's get down to the massage marketing tips of WHY you are building your list.

The first thing you need to understand is that a big mailing list, newsletter, whatever, is not the goal you are reaching for. It is a means to the goal. Your business goal probably isn't really to build a 100,000 person mailing list.

Your goal is to attract prospective clients and make money. Building the list is just the vehicle which will take you there.

This isn't just semantics. Having the right focus and position for your list is all important online. If you don't understand why you are running a mailing list, then I guarantee you won't get maximum value out of it.

How about something like this...

"The goal of my mailing list is to build relationships with prospective clients and encourage them to become paying clients."

One of the biggest mistakes I see being made from list owners is not inserting your own personality into your mailing list or newsletter or blog or ezine, etc., etc. (This is yet another one of those huge massage marketing tips.)

Part of the advantage to having a small business is you are a real person they can contact, agree with, disagree with, etc.

Insert your personality along with all the fact and benefits and whatever else it is you are doing with your list.

Again, please don't forget this below as it's one of the most import massage marketing tips for your mailing list...

...people build relationships with other people!

"Be a real person!"

The ones who stay on your list will buy more once they know you.

"Personality" is one of the most under used tools in the publisher's arsenal. Right alongside personality is good content. You need to balance the one with the other. You won't be able to produce a growing mailing list without good quality content.

If you don't think you are very creative and can't produce quality content, just keep in mind your primary goal, "to build relationships with prospective clients and turn them into paying clients."

Another grand-daddy of massage marketing tips is...

Put yourself inside your prospective clients head. Stop thinking like a massage therapist! Think like they do. What is it they want or need? Then, just write from your heart. It's really not that difficult.

The biggest obstacle I see is that most just fail to try, or put any effort into writing. Once you get rolling, keep going! Don't let anyone or anything distract you.

Let's move on...

...and this is one of those tricky massage marketing tips.

"If you really want someone to give you something they have, you have to appear to not really want it."

Some information I receive, there's almost a plea in it. "Please buy from me!" Along side the desperation is hype; both go hand in hand.

When you desperately want something another person can give you (no matter what it is) you attach an extreme amount of value to that thing and it makes them not want to let it go because whatever you're asking for now has more value than they thought.

You have to detach yourself from the outcome of what you're doing.

When you write to people, write because you want to and because you want to help them.

People always want to feel like they're doing something for their reasons and not because you "forced" them into a decision.

Your main focus should be on writing something helpful even when you're making an offer for your services. Give people some information they can use even if they don't schedule with you.

I guarantee that when you create a newsletter, special report, or anything else for that matter with the mindset of helping people and not on selling a million massage packages, people will in turn...

...not only buy from you but praise your efforts and tell other people about your work.

Ok, this is getting a bit long. What do you say we wrap this up in regards to massage marketing tips for your mailing list?

Writing in a way that gets people to buy from you boils down to one thing really...

...write in a way that shows your readers that you care.

If not, people will unsubscribe from your lists. Also keep in mind that anything else you write will quickly be disregarded by them as either hype or a sales pitch.

When people read what you write, they should easily come to the conclusion that the only reason you wrote to them was because you wanted to help them do something they couldn't do before, or to share something about your personal experiences so they can learn without having to make their own mistakes.

Please re-read that paragraph again; it's yet another one of those huge massage marketing tips.

And the thing is, you never really have to write about anything that spectacular.

Sharing what has worked for you, your opinions, your ideas or anything you believe would benefit someone reading your material is infinitely better than mindless hype you can't back up.

Consciously do things to make them see the kind of person they would want to do business with.

People draw conclusions because the mind is always trying to fill in the gaps between what is explicitly known and what can only be guessed at.

If you're trying hard to help people with your free information, they assume (their mind guesses) that you try just as hard or harder with the products and services you sell or recommend to them.

Remember: People care about themselves first, then, anyone else who seems to care about them too. So when you do things for the people who are giving you their time, (reading what you write) they learn to value what you say and do things to benefit you so that you feel like continuing to do things for them.

It's not about you at all.

What usually gets you in trouble is the fact that you're thinking about yourself and what you're trying to accomplish. That keeps you from seeing the fact that if you want other people to give you what you want, you have to give them what they want first.

So, let's get to the point. (How many times have I said that now in all these massage marketing tips??)

Nothing I've shared with you here will be of any assistance if you can't honestly answer this question:

"Are you willing to put aside what you want and focus on giving others what they want, without thinking about how much you're going to get paid from your efforts?"

This above is the 'mother of all massage marketing tips', period.

This gets a bit tricky, as even if you answered a resounding "YES," there's still more to really succeeding.

Huh?

Because...

...saying what you are willing to do, and being willing to do what you say, are two completely different things.

This is the 'father of all massage marketing tips'. ;)

In summary...(Ok, I swear this is the end...)

Respect the time other people are willing to share with you by giving them the best information you possibly can. People get addicted to information that makes them feel good and satisfies their wants and their needs.